Posted on 12/23/2020 5:30:42 AM PST by MtnClimber
Something very troubling happened yesterday in Oregon.
We back the blue, but will they back us?
Like most conservatives, I support the police and the vital role they serve in a civilized society.
But like many conservatives, watching them stand down on orders from blue-state mayors during months of riots was jarring. (They even stood down during a Back the Blue rally in Denver when speakers were attacked.)
Many of us asked how the police could obey such orders and allow criminals to have free rein in our streets — criminals whose victims, I might add, included over 2,000 police officers.
Don't police officers swear an oath to protect and defend the Constitution? Well, yes, they do. In fact, that is their paramount responsibility.
Perhaps this year, it seems we witnessed the rule and not the exception — the rule being that most people, including the police, will be cowards in the face of tyrants.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
In “Fahrenheit 451” it is the job of the firemen to go around and burn stuff.
Nowadays, law enforcement seems to have the job of supporting people who oppose law and order, and also the job of persecuting law-abiding citizens.
In A Clockwork Orange, the very thugs causing problems were hired to be police. Just wait until Antifa members fill up the police rank and file.
I am not disputing anything you said. But, that is known as the nuremberg defense.
Ya, ve ver shust followink orrrrderrrs.
And 911 will go directly to the Pronoun Police.
It’s very simple really. Police officers everywhere are no better, no worse than the citizens they serve.
Do you live in a city like Portland or Minneapolis or Chicago? Do you elect people like London Breed, Nancy Pelosi or Gavin Newsom? Then you deserve the rotten, awful, corrupt police force that controls you.
Do you live in a conservative decent community? Do you elect competent qualified individuals? Then you can count on and depend on the support of your local law enforcement agency.
The left is going to have a critical need for bullies to take our firearms, seize private property and suppress free speech and thought crimes. They’re going to need experts on the tactics of the SS, Einsatzgruppen and the KGB. “Reimagining” law enforcement will mean getting rid of traditional police thinking and creating organizations that can undertake duties like torture, herding innocents into gas chambers, and punishing nonconformist thinking. This will be the response when the public demands control of violent crimes.
And the County sheriff is a primary fulcrum upon which the oath pivots.
...then maybe the DA, which explains the soros backing of leftist DAs and SAs.
“Nowadays, law enforcement seems to have the job of supporting people who oppose law and order, and also the job of persecuting law-abiding citizens.”
In most countries of the world, that’s their job.
Communists, and other dictators rely on police protection. Never heard of “Police state”?
USA was an exception. Welcome to the new global world!
I suspect the trend of police departments in major cities is the same as what is happening in NY City:
50 NYPD Cops Flee To Nassau County PD As Mass Exodus Continues
"The city spent millions of dollars training these cops hoping that they would be around for another 20-plus years,” one NYPD officer said. “That money and experience just walked out the door, putting a further drain on the city’s budget nightmare.”
https://policetribune.com/50-nypd-cops-flee-to-nassau-county-pd-as-mass-exodus-continues/
That means to fill police departments, standards will have to be lowered (again).
The Russian ruble in 1992-03 lost most of its value. Pensioners were paid, but they lost most of the value in the conversion to new Rubles - 35,000 to 35 new. They were somewhat better prepared with many people accustomed to growing small gardens for vegetables they couldn’t buy. Even so it was a difficult time and average lifespans went down by several years. Affected men particularly hard.
Here most people don’t grow anything even in the country. Suspect Murcans will not be patiently standing in lines for a bag of food/water like the Japanese after the 2011 tsunami.
Don't police officers swear an oath to protect and defend the Constitution? Well, yes, they do. In fact, that is their paramount responsibility.
Um, actually, no
First, police departments are not federal but local units. There is no central, mandated oath.
Second, a sampling of oaths show a consistent theme of SUPPORTING the Constitution, but not protection AND defense, i.e. Phoenix: I (state your name), do solemnly swear (or affirm), that I will support the Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution and laws of the State of Arizona, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same, and defend them against enemies, foreign and domestic, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge, the duties of a peace officer, to the best of my ability, so help me God.
Third, regarding the author's assertion that Many of us asked how the police could obey such orders and allow criminals to have free rein in our streets — criminals whose victims, I might add, included over 2,000 police officers, the Courts have held that the police are not obligated to defend people. "the government had no affirmative duty to protect any person, even a child, from harm by another person. “Nothing in the language of the Due Process Clause itself requires the State to protect the life, liberty, and property of its citizens against invasion by private actors," stated Chief Justice Rehnquist for the majority, "even where such aid may be necessary to secure life, liberty, or property interests of which the government itself may not deprive the individual" without “due process of the law.”
As long as we are here, the author breathlessly states "It appears that some of the protesters showed up armed (some with firearms and at least one with a pitchfork). Although Oregon is an open carry state, several cities have open carry bans in public places. And as is the case in many open carry states, no firearms are allowed inside public buildings anywhere in the state."
Fair enough. Yet, during the lockdowns, didn't we cheer when people entered the MI statehouse with firearms? The right to KABA is plenary, and not reserved to Republicans or anti-lockdown folks.
There are probably other things but I have to prep for Christmas. Your mileage may vary.
American police by and large are a miserable, hate filled, angry and chronically depressed lot. However, much of it is not without merit. (Sheriffs’ Depts are a different breed of cat with their own ethos.) Methinks they hate their command and political masters more than we do. The question is which way will they break when the chips are down. Historically it takes a charismatic leader to focus and channel the rage in either the right or wrong direction.
Police are trained to obey orders. That comes before allegiance to the Constitution. When a corrupt democrat administration tells them to do something, they have a choice: obey or get fired. Most obey.
Since the police are an extension of the power of the civilians in public office, there is much to be feared here. They have the power to detain and injure individuals. When the civil authorities use the police to enforce a political agenda, we lose all rights.
Very astute. Compliments.
“When the civil authorities use the police to enforce a political agenda, we lose all rights.”
Supplemental:
...and they (civil authorities) then become the enemy against which citizens are dutifully obligated to remedy by any means necessary.
The police officers on the street - themselves citizens - then must ‘choose’...
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